For both the professional and casual painter, typical paint cans feature a multitude of drawbacks. Most notably, the construction of a typical one-gallon size paint can makes it virtually impossible to pour paint out of the can into a paint tray or other container without paint trickling down the sides of the can after the paint is poured. Excess paint dripping down the exterior of the can may cause undesirable paint smears on walls, floors, furniture and other items when the dripping paint accidentally comes in contact with one or more of these surfaces or objects. Further, the problem of paint running down the side of the can is aggravated when a user rests a wet paintbrush horizontally across the top of the paint can, as many painters typically do overnight or during a break. Paint from a wet paintbrush drips down the side of the can, causing similar problems noted above.
Further, there are a number of other common occurrences that often irritate painters and present additional difficulties. For instance, after paint is poured out of the can, a certain quantity always remains at the opening of the can in its sealing groove. The paint in this sealing groove poses the following problems: first, if the metal paint can lid is placed onto the can top and into the groove before the paint in it dries, the paint acts as an adhesive, sealing the lid to the can and making it more difficult to remove later on. In addition, when the cover is subsequently re-installed, paint in the sealing groove spatters as the lid is tapped down, causing paint to be dispersed randomly on the painter or on a surface.
Similarly, these problems are also encountered when dipping a paintbrush in a paint can and then wiping the brush against the inner rim of the can to remove excess paint from the brush. Although painters are aware of this problem, they choose to wipe the brush against the inner rim since the alternative (i.e., spreading the excess paint over a given area) may ruin the job at hand, thereby entirely undermining their efforts.
Moreover, although it is good practice to replace the paint lid on the can overnight or during a lunch break to keep the paint fresh, many fail to do so and introduce paint to the side of the can lid and in its sealing groove.